This qualitative study uses the lens of expectation theory to highlight the educational achievements of Cameroonian youths in American educational institutions as it also examines their individual educational experiences and the many challenges (social, cultural, and academic) that each encountered in his or her journey toward significant educational outcomes. Findings from this study challenge the misconception that students coming into the United States other than from Asia and Europe are academically inferior to their counterparts born in the U.S. Six francophone Cameroonian-born young adults between the ages of 19-30 residing in the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area participated in this study. Each had completed at least one full academic year in an American educational institution. Data collection included virtual interviews with follow-ups carried out via text exchanges and phone conversations. Participants reported experiences language barriers in U.S. education settings. Even students with strong knowledge of English or multiple years in English-speaking classrooms struggled with differences between British/Cameroonian spoken English and American pronunciations and accents. In addition, many students did not feel a sense of belonging in school until they had opportunities to be in classes with or interact with other students that share a similar background or until teachers recognized their potential. All participants felt a strong sense of parental expectation and were influenced by perceptions of teachers’ expectations. Findings of this study align with previous studies that identified influential factors of educational attainments for immigrant youths including the importance of family expectations, teacher expectations, and students’ sense of self-efficacy. Data also suggest that gender and birth order influence Cameroonian parents’ expectations related to household responsibilities and obligations towards siblings and that both male and female participants equally perceived parental expectations to achieve academically. This study suggests that institutions serving Cameroonian immigrant student, specifically, and immigrant students in general may better serve those students by understanding their needs and the specific barriers they may face. It may be helpful to provide language support, even for students who have strong command of written English, and to create meaningful opportunities to create supportive social networks during the transition to schooling in the U.S.

This study seeks to replicate and extend Roksa and Potter's (2011) analysis of the association between intergenerational family background and academic outcomes by utilizing the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to examine alternative methods for operationalizing maternal educational background. Results indicate a positive association between maternal upward mobility and adolescent academic achievement. Measures of mobility affect adolescent achievement even when controlling for both mother's and maternal grandmother's educational attainment. Future research should examine the differential impact of extreme mobility, specifically downward mobility, on adolescent academic outcomes.

In the last half century, gun ownership has been one of the most hotly debated topics in the United States. The right to bear arms was written into the U. S. Constitution and into the hearts and minds of its citizens. During the last half century, however, numerous gun control laws have been enacted at Federal, state and local levels, and it can be argued (plausibly or not) that part of the legislative intent has been to decrease the number of gun owning households in the United States. For many decades, this number hovered at one half of all households (Wright, 1995). The possible success of these gun control efforts is suggested by an apparent and rather sharp decline in the ownership percentage beginning in the 1990s. In 2000, the household gun ownership rate had decreased to 32.5% (according to the General Social Survey). The question raised in this thesis is how to account for declining gun ownership. More specifically, I ask if there has in fact been a decline in ownership, or whether the apparent decline is an illusion resulting from changing demographics. A third possibility, that social norms have changed such that admitting gun ownership in surveys is now more problematic for many people, is also considered and seems, indeed, to be the most telling line of explanation.

The thesis investigates the effects of industrial automation on post-secondary education enrollment. To assess the effects, we build linear regression models to estimate the impact of the surge in the stock of industrial robots on post-secondary enrollment across 50 U.S. states and 41 countries. Drawing upon these estimates and the literature documenting the structural shift in the labor market, we find that recent developments in the fields of automation and robotics have contributed to a shift in demand for post-secondary education, with panel data models that control for both country and time fixed unobservables indicating a significant decline in enrollment for 4-year degree programs internationally.

No description available.

No description available.

In this thesis, return to health is also estimated. We examine the effects of height on hourly wage, monthly earnings, working hours, and education level. Our results show that height has different causal impacts on women and men. Women benefit from height: taller women earn more, work less, and have more leisure time. However, taller men are more likely to land a job and work longer, largely because they are better endowed. Moreover, the positive effect of height on hourly wage for women is larger than that for men. In general, the findings have contributed new evidence to existing literature that estimates the return to health. / This thesis mainly investigates the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status. Specifically, it estimates the effects of family income and parental education on the health status and educational attainment of the next generation using unique twins data collected from urban China. By using twins strategy, we can largely control for unobservables, which may cause biases in estimations. Our results show that the positive correlations of family income and maternal education with child health are largely due to unobserved endowment and family background. However, family income and paternal education do have a positive effect on child education. Overall, our findings suggest that increasing family income and parental schooling do not help in improving child health. However, to reduce the educational gap of the next generation, redistributing income would prove beneficial. The design of government policies is dependent on the policy targets. / Xiong, Yanyan. / Advisers: Hongbin Li; Junsen Zhang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 2176. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest dissertations and theses, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

No description available.

The aim of this study was to examine associations between biases in decision-making (delay discounting [DD], opportunity cost neglect [OCN], status quo bias [SQB]), educational attainment, and use of cigarettes and other tobacco and nicotine delivery products among women of reproductive age. Women of reproductive age are of special interest because of the additional risks that cigarette smoking or use of these other products represents should they become pregnant. Data were collected anonymously online in survey format using Amazon Mechanical Turk [AMT]. Participants were 800 women of reproductive age (24-44 years) from across the US. Half (n = 400) were smokers who reported current, daily smoking and half (n = 400) were never smokers who reported smoking less than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime. Participants reported smoking characteristics, plans to quit smoking, use of nicotine replacement therapies, use of other tobacco and nicotine delivery products, alcohol and drug use histories, and the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence. Participants completed two measures for each of the three biases in decision-making, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale [BIS-11], and two scales measuring short- and long-term propensity to plan for money expenditures [PPMS and PPML]. Educational attainment analyses compared three education groups: high school or less vs. some college (e.g. some college/A.A.) vs. B.A. or higher. DD was steeper among current vs. never smokers and for women with lower vs. higher levels of education, with no significant interaction between smoking and education. Modifying the instructions of the DD measure to make the zero option explicit reduced DD similarly across levels of smoking status and education. OCN was worse at lower vs. higher educational attainment on one OCN measure, with no significant effect of smoking status or interaction between opportunity cost neglect and educational attainment on either measure. No evidence was found for stronger SQB by smoking status or education. Smoking status was related to BIS Total, BIS Motor and Nonplanning subscales and to PPML in initial models but remained significant after adjusting for baseline differences in participant characteristics only for BIS Motor subscale and educational attainment was related only to BIS Nonplanning subscale. Preliminary comparisons of e-cigarette users to non-users suggest smokers using e-cigarettes only differ from smokers not using e-cigarettes on measures related to quitting smoking whereas within never smokers e-cigarette users demonstrated a pattern of riskier decision-making compared to non-users. Results confirm that DD and education are important to understanding the use of tobacco and nicotine products in women of reproductive age, and suggest that smoking and educational attainment are independently related to discounting rates. The observed explicit-zero framing effect suggests making alternatives more explicit when presenting choices may help reduce DD and lead to better decision-making, which has possible treatment implications. Results identify OCN as an additional decision-making bias to consider in understanding how low educational attainment might relate to smoking vulnerabilities. The preliminary examination of e-cigarette use suggests for women of reproductive age above age 24 years, e-cigarette use among current smokers may reflect desire or attempts to quit or cut back on smoking whereas e-cigarette use among non-smokers may be a marker of a more impulsive, riskier repertoire, although additional study of this question is needed.

The current study mapped trajectories of perceived educational control (PEC) through its association with age, parental educational attainment (PEA), school type (public or private) and sex. The study surveyed 280 Australian formal students, in a cross-sectional design, between the ages of 17 and 25. Results displayed increased age predicting higher levels of PEC. Having one educated parent predicted greater PEC across age than did having no educated parents. Interestingly, having two educated parents did not significantly elevate PEC. Awaited, was the insignificance of sex in the predictions of PEC, meanwhile school type, yet also an insignificant predictor has opened up for further discussion. No differences were found in PEC levels between school types or genders. Future research should include cultural background of the participant and school attended. Another useful perspective would be measured PEC in relation to likelihood of studying; for those finishing secondary school, or currently not studying. / Den aktuella studien mäter upplevd utbildningskontroll genom sin koppling till ålder, föräldrarnas utbildningsnivå, skolform (offentlig eller privat) och kön. I studien undersöktes 280 australienska studerande, i en tvärsnittsdesign, mellan åldrarna 17 och 25. Resultaten visar på att högre ålder förutsäger ökningar i upplevd utbildningskontroll. Att ha en utbildad förälder förutspår högre upplevd utbildningskontroll (över ålder) än att inte ha någon utbildad förälder. Dock visar det sig att ha två utbildade föräldrar inte signifikant höjer upplevd utbildningskontroll. Som väntat, förutsåg inte kön upplevd utbildningskontroll, likaså förutsåg inte skolform nivåer av upplevd utbildningskontroll, men denna prediktor har öppnat upp för vidare diskussion. Inga skillnader påträffades i upplevd utbildningskontroll nivåer mellan skoltyperna eller könen. Framtida forskning bör omfatta kulturell bakgrund av deltagaren samt skolan som respondenten gått i. Ett annat användbart perspektiv mäter upplevd utbildningskontroll i förhållande till sannolikheten att studera i framtiden; för dem som för närvarande inte studerar, eller avslutar gymnasiet.